What They Are Saying … about the Boston bombings

Police in tactical gear conduct a search for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings Friday in Watertown, Mass. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

What some of the nation’s commentators are saying about the bombing in Boston:

Don’t jump to conclusions
There is a long history of Chechnya being a source of Islamist terrorism, both against Russia and elsewhere. But until we learn more, this is not the time to jump to any conclusions about the motives of these killers or whether they fit the model of the Ft. Hood killer, an American who was inspired by Islamist ideology to carry out a deadly attack. An American media that has been bursting with impatience all week hoping to be able to put this tragedy in some perspective or to use it promote some sort of political agenda will just have to keep waiting.
— Jonathan S. Tobin, Commentary Magazine

How to honor the victims
President Obama’s words at the ­Cathedral of the Holy Cross … were not focused on vengeance. They were not violent words. They were words that honored the memory of Martin Richard, of Krystle Campbell, of Lingzi Lu. Obama’s buddy, our governor, Deval Patrick, put it well. He spoke of accountability without vengeance, of vigilance without fear. We can’t lower ourselves. That’s how we honor Martin and Krystle and Lingzi. After the image of the suspected bombers flashed across the screen for the 100th time, the bartender turned the Red Sox game on, and that seemed right, because we can’t let murderers monopolize our ­attention. Dustin Pedroia took a borderline third strike, and we moaned. And then I remembered that Martin Richard loved Dustin Pedroia and that Pedey is a good guy with a good heart who would have given anything to meet a boy who because of inexplicable hatred will never grow old.
— Kevin Cullen, The Boston Globe

Social media getting it wrong, too
A lifetime ago, when President Kennedy was assassinated, Americans sought solace in binge-watching TV news, far from the action. And even in the wake of 9/11, before social media as we know it, most people’s involvement was limited to making donations to the American Red Cross and forwarding emails about candlelight vigils. Now there’s an almost universal need to be in the mix somehow, a player not a spectator. The deluge of false information isn’t a sign of irresponsibility and impatience as much as a desire not to be left out. Which means civilian tweeters and paid reporters actually have quite a lot in common.
— Meghan Daum, Los Angeles Times

We need more surveillance cameras
Cities under the threat of terrorist attack should install networks of cameras to monitor everything that happens at vulnerable urban installations. Yes, you don’t like to be watched. Neither do I. But of all the measures we might consider to improve security in an age of terrorism, installing surveillance cameras everywhere may be the best choice. They’re cheap, less intrusive than many physical security systems, and — as [was] the case with the Boston bombing — they can be extremely effective at solving crimes.
— Farhad Manjoo, Slate

Obama may be remembered for this
Presidents are judged in history almost as much by how they made a country feel about itself as what they accomplished. And with so few precious accomplishments in Washington and so many dark occasions such as the ones that visited Newtown, Boston and now, West [the Texas fertilizer plant explosion], this president may best be remembered by how he led in these. It is probably not the legacy he would have wanted.
–Richard Parker, via McClatchy-Tribune
The path to becoming a killer
The process of moving from a law-abiding citizen to violent killer in the name of politics is not an easy path to follow. Many things can divert the would-be terrorist along the way: interest in the cause can wane, a family member might need help, the prospect of martyrdom loses its glamour and appeal, or any number of other factors. People who begin down the radicalization process often disengage from the terrorist enterprise or lose their ideological zeal. Very few individuals with extremist views ultimately undergo the psychological transformation that brings them to the point of causing violence against innocents.
— David H. Schanzer, Foreign Policy

Be vigilant, but not afraid
When terrorists strike, they tear at the social fabric. They shake our sense of reality and they threaten to undo our ideas about what’s normal, what’s human. It is incomprehensible that a human being could deliberately, meticulously undertake to kill innocent people engaged in their daily lives, and to kill as many as possible, as brutally as possible. That’s one reason why deaths at the hands of terrorists, regardless of the casualty count, have a special emotional resonance different from deaths brought by diseases, accidents or natural disasters.
— Frida Ghitis, The Miami Herald

The terrible theater of terror
The attack on the Boston Marathon is a reminder of the adage that terror is theater. Yes, terror is horror. Yes, terror is murder. Yes, terror is reprehensible. But it is theater, too, played out on a grand stage before an audience of tens of millions. We sit riveted in front of the television or computer screen, demanding the latest updates. We don’t need to know who did it to understand the malevolent brilliance of the staging: an attack on the audience at a sporting event where the crowd is uncontrollable.
— Stephen L. Carter, Bloomberg News

Americans more fortunate
So Americans will have to be more vigilant, taking the catchphrase “see something, say something” more seriously. In Israel, a country with all too much experience with terrorism, any unattended backpack on the street would be quickly blown up by a bomb squad. Yet, despite this need for greater threat awareness, Americans are still exceptionally fortunate. Consider that, also on Monday, dozens of bomb blasts killed at least 37 Iraqis and injured about 273 more. Heaven knows how many innocent Iraqis were blown up by car bombs over the past decade.
— Trudy Rubin, The Philadelphia Inquirer

We are courageous, resilient
Something horrible happened to us on Monday. We did not deserve it, and we were unable to avoid it this time. But we are not changed by this act of terror. If anything, it has simply confirmed that evil exists, but that it will always be met by exceptional, courageous and resilient Americans.
— Christine M. Flowers, Philadelphia Daily News
Was this terrorism? Yes
The reflexive question — “Was this terrorism?” — shouted out so expectantly during the first press conferences after attacks on our fellow Americans, whether in Boston or Benghazi or elsewhere, reveals a certain cultural, even national, neurosis that we have about terrorism. Of course this is terrorism, even if it turns out to have lacked a familiar motive. Maybe next time, rather than indulging our appetite for gruesome details, uninformed and premature speculation, and round-the-clock coverage, we could all pause and try to deprive the perpetrators — whoever they are — of the thing they most crave: attention.
–Andrew Liepman, Foreign Policy

Vincent Carroll is The Denver Post's editorial page editor. He has been writing commentary on politics and public policy in Colorado since 1982 and was originally with the Rocky Mountain News, where he was also editor of the editorial pages until that newspaper gave up the ghost in 2009.

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